Collapsible display device

ABSTRACT

A display device constructed from a blank of foldable sheet stock having formed therein a plurality of spaced, vertical fold lines and a plurality of spaced, discontinuous horizontal slits which cross the vertical fold lines. The spaced, horizontal slits divide the blank into sections and adjacent sections are folded in opposite directions along the vertical fold lines to subdivide each of the sections into a plurality of panels which zig-zag in a direction opposite to the panels of the adjacent section and form intersections. At these intersections, short vertical fold lines are formed which are parallel to the spaced vertical fold lines. The ends of the discontinuous, horizontal slits have oppositely directed L-shaped slits or diagonal slits to join the short vertical fold lines and form hinge connections for panels of adjacent sections.

United States Patent [191 Resnicoff Apr. 10, 1973 COLLAPSIBLE DISPLAYDEVICE [22] Filed: June 30, 1971 .[211 Appl. No.: 158,263

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,049,231 7/1936 Storch..2l1/135 Primary Examiner-Ramon S. AttorneyMorton Amster et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A display device constructed from a blank of foldablesheet stock having formed therein a plurality of spaced, vertical foldlines and a plurality of spaced, discontinuous horizontal slits whichcross the vertical fold lines. The spaced, horizontal slits divide theblank into sections and adjacent sections are folded in oppositedirections along the vertical fold lines to subdivide each of thesections into a plurality of panels which zig-zag in a directionopposite to the panels of the adjacent section and form intersections.At these intersections, short vertical fold lines are formed which areparallel to the spaced vertical fold lines. The ends of thediscontinuous, horizontal slits have oppositely directed L-shaped slitsor diagonal slits to join the short vertical fold lines and form hingeconnections for panels of adjacent sections.

6 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures PATENTED AFR 1 01973 m" To I E Wm 17 IR W YE L m T s ATTORNEYS.

COLLAPSIBLE DISPLAY DEVICE The present invention relates generally todisplay devices and, more particularly, to a collapsible display devicecomposed of cardboard or equivalent foldable sheet stock.

The overall object of this invention is to provide a novel and improvedconstruction for display devices and decor items, made from a singleflat blank of sheet material, which is merely folded and cut to attain aonepiece honey-comb formation, without the use of any adhesive, clip,clamp, staple, rivet or other extraneous fastening or hinge means, andwhich for transit or storage purposes, is collapsible to a compactconfigura tion or fully unfoldable to a flat form.

Another object thereof is to provide novel and improved honey-combconstructions of the character mentioned, in which the panels ofadjacent accordion pleated sections intersect between their ends, andare joined by hinge connections formed from the single flat blankitself.

A further object thereof is to provide that such hinge connections donot protrude from the front surfaces of the panels so that the entirefront surfaces of the panels may each have pasted thereto articles, suchas a sheet exhibit, which will not only cover and hide the jointconnection, but will not impair the foldability of the accordionpleating.

A further object of the invention is to provide that the display devicemay have end sections which enhance the appearance and sturdiness of thestructure and such end sections may be the parts held in hand to effectfolding and unfolding of the device by accordion wise manipulation.

Another object thereof is to provide a display device which isinexpensive and easy to manufacture requiring only simple die cutting toslit and score the blank of sheet material in the required arrangement.

A still further object of this invention is to provide novel andimproved honey-comb constructions for display devices and articles ofdecor, of the character set forth, having the stated attributes, andwhich are simple to make, use and manipulate, and which are efficient incarrying out the purposes for which they are designed.

Briefly, in accordance with the principles of my invention, there isprovided a display device having a honey-comb structure which isconstructedby folding a single rectangular blank of stiff cardboardmaterial, provided with a plurality of spaced, vertical fold lines and aplurality of spaced horizontal, discontinuous slits; each main fold linebeing crossed by a horizontal slit so the slit ends extend to themid-points between successive main fold lines. In the space midwaybetween proximate ends of successive slits, which is also midway betweentwo main fold lines, the blank is provided with a short scored verticalfold line parallel to the main fold lines, with its midpoint on thehorizontal line of slits it crosses. The ends of proximate slitscontinue in L- shaped directions and extend respectively to the ends ofthe short vertical fold lines between them. The blank is folded zig-zagalong its main score. lines thereby forming accordion pleated sections,but the folding is done so that the panels of successive sections crosseach other as in a lazy tongs. Such crossings form a hinge connectionbetween intersecting panels of successive sections; the short fold linesserving as the axes vided with slits and scored fold lines in aprescribed arof such hinge connections. For a sturdy structure, theblank has end parts, each of which has an unbent portion extending fromtop to bottom, and connecting the pleated sections, as will beexplained. Platforms for displaying various articles may be provided byinserting in chosen compartments of the honey-comb formation,horizontally-positioned rectangular tubes of paperboard material whichare foldable to a flat configuration when apart from the honey-comb.

Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent upon the consideration of the following detaileddescription of a presently preferred embodiment when taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the display device of the presentinvention having a honey-comb structure made of a foldable sheetmaterial;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of another honey-comb structureof this invention, showing a modified end;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a collapsible rectangular tube memberwhich may be inserted in the honeycomb form to provide a displayplatform and lock the hinge connections of the structure adjacentthereto.

FIG. 5 is a front view of a blank for making the display device of thepresent invention; 7

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary front view of a blank for making thesehoney-comb forms with hinge means of modified construction;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the blank shownin FIG. 5, and particularly, the portion directed to the hingestructure;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an enlarged fragment of the honey-combstructures shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and in particular, the portion of theblank as illustrated in FIG. 7, forming a hinge means connectingcrossing panels of adjacent sections;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of the blank shownin FIG. 6, and particularly illustrates the modified hinge structure;

FIG. 10 is a view akin to FIG. 8, showing how the modified hingestructure of FIG. 9 becomes the hinge means; and

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary view of reduced scale, showing an end sectionscheme for a honey-comb structure of many pleated sections.

Referring now to the drawing, a structure embodying the presentinvention is indicated generally by the reference numeral 15. It is madeby merely folding the prepared stiff paperboard rectangular blank,denoted generally by therefe'rence numeral 16, which is prorangement.When the blank is folded, as will be described, it forms the honey-combstructure denoted generally by the reference numeral 17, having endsections 18 and 19, which I prefer to include in association withaccordion pleated horizontal sections, indicated generally by thereference numerals 20, 21 and 22 respectively. These pleated sectionsare arranged in the manner of a lazy tongs. Crossing panels of theadjacent pleated sections are connected by hinge constructions indicatedgenerally by thereference numerals 23 and The blank 16 may be identifiedas" the rectangle ABCD, whose edge ABwill be called its top edge, soedge CD will be bottom edge, and edges AD and BC will be called its sideedges. A part of blank 16, which forms the honey-comb structure per se,can exist and be used alone and is the rectangle designated GI-IJK. Itwould constitute the entire blank to be used when the display devicedoes not include end sections 18, 19, comprising the rectangles AGKD andHBCJ respectively. This description will now proceed to identify the.spaced, horizontal slits and spaced, vertical fold lines in the blankABCD.

Referring now to FIG. 5, all solid lines indicate slits, while alldot-dash lines denote scored lines of folds. The blanks portion GI-IJK,is provided with a plurality of spaced vertical fold lines, such as LM,NP, QU and H]. The distance between the lines may be equal or varied asthe desired use dictates. Lines GK and HJ are also lines along whichfolds are made in the blank.

The blank is also provided with a plurality of spaced horizontal slitsthrough the points N and P, and are elongated slits crossing all thevertical fold lines. The horizontal slits are discontinuous and areinterrupted at approximately midway between successive fold lines. Theends of the discontinuous, horizontal slits have oppositely directedL-shaped slits, such as 42,43, which are joined by comparatively shortscored, fold lines along the vertical, such as along the line ST, toform hinge connections 23, 24.

In the modification illustrated in FIG. 9, the horizontal slits mayterminate in oppositely directed diagonal slits, as shown at 44, 45, toa vertical fold line S'T', to

' provide hinge connections 23, 24', respectively.

When the blank 16 is folded along the scored vertical lines in thespecificied alternating directions, the .section will comprise theidentical rectangular panels 25 through 28, the section 21 will comprisethe identical rectangular panels 29 through 32, and the section 22 willcomprise the identical rectangular panels 33 through 36. The C-shapedend portions 48 and 49 of the end sections 18, 19, will extenddivergently rearward, while the panels which connect them, indicated as46, 47, will extend convergently rearward. The hinge structures-willassume the condition as shown in FIG. 8,- at 23 and 24, or as shown at23 and 24' in FIG. 10, depending upon which-type of hinge structure isused. The resulting article formed from the blank 16," is designated byreference numeral 15, and is illustrated in FIG. 1.

It is to be noted that in the erected article 15, on the front sidethereof, shown in FIG. 1, none of the tabs 50, 51 at the hinges protrudeforwardly. As seen in FIG. 8, tabs 50, 51 will permit the entire frontsurface of respective panels 26, 30, to be covered by an exhibit, whichwould also cover the notches 52 and 53 respectively from view. The sameconditions would prevail for the joint structure shown in FIG. 9.

When the display device 15 is made of stiff paperboard or of an easilybendable stiff plastic sheeting material as a suitable polyethylene, itis compactly collapsible or fully unfoldable to a flat configuration,which are convenient forms for transit and storage purposes. For apermanent erected form, it may be made of sheet metal, which might bepreferred when the item is made for a decor purpose. The size of thearticle, is of course made to suit the purpose for which it is intended.The distances NN, N'P and P'P, may be the same or different. For thepractice of this invention, it is not mandatory that there be a hingeconnection at every pair of crossing panels of adjacent sections, solong as there are a sufficient number to have the blank of one piece.For proper extension and contraction, a hinge connection at each pair ofsuch crossing panels is preferred. To have the display device capable ofbeing uniformly extended and contracted is mandatory. The horizontalslits 40, 41 need not be straight, but may be arcuate or scalloped.Rather than mere slits, they may be slots or other openings, as 55 shownin FIG. 6, whose edges may have decorative contours. Of course, at hingeregions, there must be continuity of the blank body. Each section maycomprise panels of different length. The number of panels per sectionmay be different. Fold lines need not be parallel. Although all suchvariations are not shown, it is believed that they are readilyunderstood without further illustration. To provide a platform to carrya small article for exhibit, it is suggested for example, to insertpartially into one of the openings, such as 57, a fitted horizontalpiece of paperboard tubing 56, as seen in FIG. 4, which in contactingthe rear surfaces of the panels 34, 35, and the front faces of thepanels 30, 31, will lock the hinges associating all of said panels inthe specific embodiment illustrated.

Although the display device 15 shown includes three pleated sections, itis evident that there may be any number which is a plurality. Thegeneral scheme for end section construction is shown in FIG. '11, whichis a modification of the end sections 18 or 18'. The only requisite foreach end section is that it need include a part that extends from topedge AG-to bottom edge DK.

The honey-comb structured display device 15 may be used to exhibitphotographs, graphics, charts, etc., which may be pasted on the severalpanels, or hung thereon. Flat articles of merchandise may be hung fordisplay on the panels. The display device l5 is ideal for store frontand company promotion displays, and it lends itselfto highly decorativeconstructions suitable for decor. It may be stood on a flat surface orhung from one end, on a wall. Made of paperboard, its tooling andmanufacture is simple, and its sales price would be reasonablyinexpensive.

For production, it is also important to note that stock material forblanks may be printed. while flat, then scored, cut and folded into thehoney-comb formation, or posters may be glued on the blank surfaceswhile flat and then scored, cut and folded to honey-comb design.

This invention is'capable of numerous forms and various applicationswithout departing from the essential features herein disclosed. It istherefore intended and desired that the embodiments shown herein shallbe deemed merely illustrative and not restrictive, and that the patentshall cover all patentable novelty herein set forth; reference being badto the following claims rather than to the specific showings anddescription herein to indicate the scope of this invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A one-piece collapsible display device comprising a blank having aplurality of horizontal slits formed therein to divide said blank intosections, a plurality of vertical main folds formed in said blank whichdivide each of said sections into panels, the main folds of adjacentsections adapted to be folded in opposite directions so that the panelsof adjacent sections form intersections, hinge means formed at aplurality of said intersections, each of said hinge means includinghinge folds formed in said blank at the ends of said slits, said hingefolds joining panels of adjacent sections and forming a tab on each ofsaid adjacent panels, said hinge folds being substantially parallel tosaid vertical main folds 2. A collapsible display device in accordancewith claim 1 wherein said slits are spaced in a substantially parallelrelationship and said main folds are spaced in a substantially parallelrelationship.

1. A one-piece collapsible display device comprising a blank having aplurality of horizontal slits formed therein to divide said blank intosections, a plurality of vertical main folds formed in said blank whichdivide each of said sections into panels, the main folds of adjacentsections adapted to be folded in opposite directions so that the panelsof adjacent sections form intersections, hinge means formed at aplurality of said intersections, each of said hinge means includinghinge folds formed in said blank at the ends of said slits, said hingefolds joining panels of adjacent sections and forming a tab on each ofsaid adjacent panels, said hinge folds being substantially parallel tosaid vertical main folds.
 2. A collapsible display device in accordancewith claim 1 wherein said slits are spaced in a substantially parallelrelationship and said main folds are spaced in a substantially parallelrelationship.
 3. A collapsible display device in accordance with claim 1wherein said slits have substantially L-shaped cutouts formed at theends thereof.
 4. A collapsible display device in accordance with claim 1wherein said slits have substantially diagonal cutouts formed at theends thereof.
 5. A collapsible display device in accordance with claim 2wherein a portion of said parallel slits are scalloped.
 6. A collapsibledisplay device in accordance with claim
 5. wheRein said sectionsterminate in end sections and said slits extending across only a portionof said end sections.